TY - JOUR
T1 - Why do cell phone interviews last longer?
T2 - A behavior coding perspective
AU - Timbrook, Jerry
AU - Olson, Kristen
AU - Smyth, Jolene D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Jerry Timbrook is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska– Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA. Kristen Olson is the Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Associate Professor and vice chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA. Jolene D. Smyth is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Bureau of Sociological Research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation [Grant No. SES-1132015 to K.O.]. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, May 2016, Austin, TX, USA. *Address correspondence to Jerry Timbrook, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Department of Sociology, 711 Oldfather Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324, USA; email: jtimbrook2@unl.edu.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.
PY - 2018/10/18
Y1 - 2018/10/18
N2 - Why do telephone interviews last longer on cell phones than landline phones? Common explanations for this phenomenon include differential selection into subsets of questions, activities outside the question-answer sequence (such as collecting contact information for cell-minute reimbursement), respondent characteristics, behaviors indicating disruption to respondents' perception and comprehension, and behaviors indicating interviewer reactions to disruption. We find that the time difference persists even when we focus only on the questionanswer portion of the interview and only on shared questions (i.e., eliminating the first two explanations above). To learn why the difference persists, we use behavior codes from the U.S./Japan Newspaper Opinion Poll, a dual-frame telephone survey of US adults, to examine indicators of satisficing, line-quality issues, and distraction. Overall, we find that respondents on cell phones are more disrupted, and that the difference in interview duration occurs because cell phone respondents take longer to provide acceptable answers. Interviewers also slow their speed of speech when asking questions. A slower speaking rate from both actors results in a longer and more expensive interview when respondents use cell phones.
AB - Why do telephone interviews last longer on cell phones than landline phones? Common explanations for this phenomenon include differential selection into subsets of questions, activities outside the question-answer sequence (such as collecting contact information for cell-minute reimbursement), respondent characteristics, behaviors indicating disruption to respondents' perception and comprehension, and behaviors indicating interviewer reactions to disruption. We find that the time difference persists even when we focus only on the questionanswer portion of the interview and only on shared questions (i.e., eliminating the first two explanations above). To learn why the difference persists, we use behavior codes from the U.S./Japan Newspaper Opinion Poll, a dual-frame telephone survey of US adults, to examine indicators of satisficing, line-quality issues, and distraction. Overall, we find that respondents on cell phones are more disrupted, and that the difference in interview duration occurs because cell phone respondents take longer to provide acceptable answers. Interviewers also slow their speed of speech when asking questions. A slower speaking rate from both actors results in a longer and more expensive interview when respondents use cell phones.
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U2 - 10.1093/poq/nfy022
DO - 10.1093/poq/nfy022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85058090259
VL - 82
SP - 553
EP - 582
JO - Public Opinion Quarterly
JF - Public Opinion Quarterly
SN - 0033-362X
IS - 3
ER -